Dodda Ganeshana Gudi Hindu temple, Basavanagudi, Karnataka, India2

Dodda Basavana Gudi (the Nandhi Temple) is situated in Bull Temple Road, Basavanagudi, area of South Bengaluru, part of the largest city of the

Indian state India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, with a total of 36 entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and smaller administrative divisions. History Pre-indepen ...

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

. The

Hindu temple A Hindu temple, or ''mandir'' or ''koil'' in Indian languages, is a house, seat and body of divinity for Hindus. It is a structure designed to bring human beings and gods together through worship, sacrifice, and devotion.; Quote: "The Hin ...

is inside a park called Bugle Rock. The bull referred to is a sacred

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

demi-god A demigod or demigoddess is a part-human and part-divine offspring of a deity and a human, or a human or non-human creature that is accorded divine status after death, or someone who has attained the "divine spark" ( spiritual enlightenment). ...

, known as Nandi; Nandi is a close devotee and attendant of

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...

. Dodda Basavana Gudi is said to be one of the biggest temple to Nandi in the world. The stone monolith idol of Nandi is continually covered with new layers of

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread, melted as a condimen ...

, ''benne'' in the local language of

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

. There is an idol of the elephant-headed Hindu deity

Ganesha Ganesha ( sa, गणेश, ), also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped Deva_(Hinduism), deities in the Hindu deities, Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in Ganapatya sect. His image is ...

close by. Every year on the last Monday and Tuesday of the Hindu month of Karthika Maasa a groundnut fair is held in the temple premises and groundnut is offered to the deity. This fair is known as ' Kadalekaayi Parishe' in local tongue. Groundnut sellers and devotees throng the place during Kadalekaayi Parishe. Basavana Gudi is a regular place of visit for tourists and is covered by most of the tour operators including the

Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation Karnataka, the sixth largest state in India, has been ranked as the third most popular state in the country for tourism in 2014. It is home to 507 of the 3600 centrally protected monuments in India, the largest number after Uttar Pradesh. ...

The Bull Temple

Nandi Temple is exclusively for the worship of the sacred bull (Basava in Kannada) in

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...

, known as Nandi,

Lord Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...

vahana ''Vahana'' ( sa, वाहन, or animal vehicle, literally "that which carries, that which pulls") denotes the being, typically an animal or mythical, a particular Hindu God is said to use as a vehicle. In this capacity, the vahana is often ...

. The word "nandi" means "joyful" in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

. The temple was built in 1537 by

Kempe Gowda Kempe Gowda I, locally venerated as Nadaprabhu Kempe Gowda, or commonly known as Kempe Gowda, was a chieftain under the Vijayanagara Empire in early-modern India. He is famous for founding the present-day southern Indian city of Bangalore. E ...

under the

Vijayanagara empire The Vijayanagara Empire, also called the Karnata Kingdom, was a Hindu empire based in the region of South India, which consisted the modern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa and some parts of Telangana and Mahar ...

in the Vijayanagara architectural style, he also founded the city of Bengaluru. The temple is named after the large granite Nandi

monolith A monolith is a geological feature consisting of a single massive stone or rock, such as some mountains. For instance, Savandurga mountain is a monolith mountain in India. Erosion usually exposes the geological formations, which are often ma ...

placed on a

plinth A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In ...

in the temple shrine (''

garbhagriha A ''garbhagriha'' or ''sannidhanam'' is the ''sanctum sanctorum'', the innermost sanctuary of a Hindu and Jain temples where resides the '' murti'' (idol or icon) of the primary deity of the temple. In Jainism, the main deity is known as the ' ...

'') which has become blackened from years of being rubbed with charcoal and oil. The temple is a small one, consisting only of the shrine fronted by a

porch A porch (from Old French ''porche'', from Latin ''porticus'' "colonnade", from ''porta'' "passage") is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance of a building. A porch is placed in front of the facade of a building it commands, and form ...

in the Vijayanagara style. The current tower (

vimana Vimāna are mythological flying palaces or chariots described in Hindu texts and Sanskrit epics. The "Pushpaka Vimana" of Ravana (who took it from Kubera; Rama returned it to Kubera) is the most quoted example of a vimana. Vimanas are also men ...

) over the shrine was constructed in the early 20th century and is adorned with

Saivite Shaivism (; sa, शैवसम्प्रदायः, Śaivasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu traditions, which worships Shiva as the Supreme Being. One of the largest Hindu denominations, it incorporates many sub-traditions rangi ...

figures and motifs. It is said to house one of the largest Nandi

murthi In the Hindu tradition, a ''murti'' ( sa, मूर्ति, mūrti, ) is a devotional image such as a statue, or "idol" (a common and non-pejorative term in Indian English), of a deity or saint. In Hindu temples, it is a symbolic icon. T ...

s in the world. The height of the

is approximately and it is approximately long.

Bugle Rock garden

The

Bugle Rock Bugle Rock () is a massive rock in the Basavanagudi area of South Bangalore, in the state of Karnataka. It is an abrupt rise above the ground of peninsular gneiss as the main rock formation and with an assessed age of about 3,000 million years ...

garden is behind the Dodda Ganesha temple and adjacent to the Bull temple. The garden gets its name from a bugle call made on top of a very large rock formation to alert the nearby dwellers. It is densely covered with trees and one can usually see and hear a number of bats perched on the trees. There is a water tank with motifs of famous people from Karnataka. Bugle Rock garden view, Basavanagudi, Karnataka, India

Bugle Rock garden view, Basavanagudi, Karnataka, India

Images

File:Sri Big Bull Temple, Dodda Ganeshana Gudi, Bangalore, India - 20130526-04.JPG File:Sri Big Bull Temple, Dodda Ganeshana Gudi, Bangalore, India - 20130526-03.JPG File:Sri Big Bull Temple, Dodda Ganeshana Gudi, Bangalore, India - 20130526-02.JPG

Notes

References

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External links